Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Literary gluttony

For whatever reason, I remembered the other night that it's possible to buy, in one fell swoop, the complete collection of Penguin Classic paperbacks. Which of course led me to Amazon, where the set of more than 1,000 classics of literature is available for just under $8,000.

The first review of the set is written by Kathryn Gursky, who was profiled in the NY Times in 2005 after her husband bought her this collection to replace the personal library she lost in a house fire: www.nytimes.com/2005/11/14/books/14peng.html
Now THAT, my friends, is a birthday present!

I know it's silly, but it seems like it would be so cool to have all your books be so matchy-matchy, same height spines lined up across however many shelves it would take to store them all. Not to mention how wonderful to actually own a library -- books which you haven't read yet, that are just waiting for you to take them down and discover them. Aaaaaah.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

So very ruling. You no doubt notice that Amazon also offers the following to those who can't quite pony up for the whole enchilada:

Interested in other Penguin Classics Collections? Explore the comprehensive selection of titles contained in The Children's Library, The Complete Greeks and Romans, The English Collection, and our two-volume American Collection. These smaller libraries, part of our Complete Collections Series and also only available on Amazon.com, are nevertheless among the most complete libraries of their kind available, containing titles selected from the breadth of the Penguin Classics list.

Your entry made me feel better about my excursion this weekend to Books Inc where I dropped more money than I care to admit on only 3 books.

I knew I was doomed I when ran across them. Two books were on the paintings of Frida Kahlo (I'd recently gone to an exhibit of her work at MOMA and had started rereading her biography) and the other a massive photo retrospective by Annie Leibovitz.

Mind you, this was the third time in about 3 weeks that I'd been down there buying books. It is SO addictive. Plus so fun to support a local books store.

(The space used to house A Clean Well Lighted Bookstore which went out of business. I was so heartbroken over the loss I avoided going near the space until stumbling by one evening with a friend and being bowled over that Books Inc was there, and so utterly like it's predecessor. I felt like an idiot, but I was a happy one nonetheless).

Ariane said...

Thanks for this and prior comments, Catherine. I appreciate you reading me!

Anonymous said...

Well I throughly enjoy your blog and the energy that comes through from it. Genuinely.

I've also found it helpful - the Seasonal Affective Disorder entry was read on a day when I really needed it. My cat Rufus who was with me for 20 years had recently passed away (July was very difficult month) and I was having a horrible time of it and wondering if I was getting a little off the deep end.

He was far more than just a cat/pet trust me. Recognizing that the weather (i.e. the @#$@#$ incessant fog) was feeding into my grief helped tremendously. At the time I wanted to comment but couldn't. I was feeling too raw.

The post about the comments of you being a sterotype made me laugh because even if there is 20 odd years separating us in terms of us knowing each other, I knew enough from the past and from reading this blog to understand how erm, slightly ridiculous the comments were.

Even if you've let go of the edge (and I understood what you meant by the comment) you still have edge my dear. You always did. And you always will. It just won't be as readily apparent or flown the way we both once flew it (each in our own way). It is the underlying edge (tempered by age and it's attendent wisdom) and commitment to your individualism that has made the blog so enjoyable in the first place...I appreciated your response to the situation as it made me think about my own views on the subject. And I loved the photo of Joe and LT.

Your battle with migraines I also can relate to, albeit in a different fashion - I suffer from Meniere's Disease, which causes intense vertigo. My head spins and spins like it's going to fly off and you can't sit up, you must lie down....so just like a migraine it stops everything, it takes time away from life and has to be managed and dealt with. It is a pain in the arse.

But like you I've learned to approach things with a sense of humor. The last time I had one I was washing some dishes and I just wasn't in the mood. I knew I was going to have to capitulate but I decided I was determined to clean my damn dishes so I kept saying piss off until I got the dishes done and then of course had to go lie down.

At any rate (sorry to ramble on so bloody long!!!) I enjoy the blog because it feels like a reconnection of sorts to someone of my age, my gender and of my tribe. It's a good thing.

If you want to reach me offline, feel free to contact me at cdg@gene.com.

And thanks for writing. You rock.

Catherine